Apparatus for concentrating materials



April 12, 1932. 1.. T. SICKA ET AL 1,853,240

APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATiNG MATERIALS Filed 001:. 25, 1926 Patented Apr. 12, 1932 oNrrs-n' STATES ATE'NT; orrics LOUIS CL. SIGKA, OF BONNIE TERRE, MISSOURI, AND VICTOR FLANAGAN, 013 FORT WAYNE, INDIANA I Application filed October 23, 1926. Serial No. 143,614;

Awell known method of concentrating materials, such as ores and the like, consists in passing the material over the deck of aconcentrating table; Such a table is usually given an inclination from the feed side downm wardly to the discharge side and is mounted and adapted for oscillating movement endwise of the table. This movement is usually such as to tend to cause a travel of the material endwise of the'ta-ble from the head 1 end towardthe tail end;- In order to assist in guiding the material during such travel, the deck is equipped with ridges or rifles providing a series of grooves therebetween inwhich the material travels,

3 It is well known that in the operation of a'concentrating table of this type, the material on the'deck stratifies according to the specific gravity of the particles. The parti- I cles of greater specific gravity, which are 1 usually the particles containing the valuable mineral, sink to the lower stratum, while the lighter particles constituting the gangue form the upper stratum. In concentrating an ore, the material is usually considered as n divided into three strata as itmoves over the deck of the tablenamely, a lower stratum:

consisting of the free mineral and known as concentrates, an intermediate stratum con-' sisting of mineral attached to sand and known as 'middlings, and an upper stratum consisting of sand or material containing minimum value and known as tailings- In practice the rifled deck of the table has 3 inclination toward the lower or tailings dis-' I r Y r charge side. The rifles prevent the flow of the whole mass ofmaterial on the deck from washing over the tailings discharge side and guide theparticles. stratified on the deck in the grooves or channels between the rifles toward the concentrate discharge end of the table. The width of the space between the rifles and the height of the riflesdetermine the amount of material carried forward by in the grooves or channels between the rifles toivard the concentrate discharge end of the ta le. j 1

An object is to'provide a concentrating. table having rifles so distributed as to improve the completeness of separation of the material and to increase the amount of material handled.

Another object is to provide a table with rifles so arranged as to force out the gangue from the stratified material so as to increase, the rapidity ofseparation;

Further objects will appear fronr the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the. deck of aconcentrating table embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a partial section taken on line 22 of Figure 1; and

Figures 3 and 4 aresimilar sections taken, respectively, on lines 3-3 and H of Fig-i ure 1; i v

Referring now to the drawings, 1 desig nates the head motion endfot the table and the arrow 2 represents the approximate point of connection of the drivingmechanism, not shown,- and the direction of difi'erential reciprocation of the deck. Mechanism for imparting this movementto the table is well known in the art, and therefore requires no detailed description. 3 represents thefeed box and water board side of the deck, the feed coming on the table at the corner 4. .The end5 is the concentrate discharge end of the deck The middlings are discharged adjacent the corner 6, while the tailings come o-fi along the edge 7. Inpractice this edge is usually somewhat lower than the side 3, so that material'notcaught and carried forward by the grooves or channels between the rifles will flow by gravity across the deck. I a

As the heavierparticles of mineral seek the lower stratum soon after coming on the table, a number of straight rifles 8 areprovided which run substantially parallel to each otheralong the feed side of the deck. Some of these rifles may run practically all the ,way' to the concentrate-,discharge end 5 of These rifles are straight and of; uniform width, with comparatively .wide

the table.

the deck effects a quick separation of the heavier particles of mineral and prevents packing of the bed of material on the deck due to the presence of finely ground mineral in the feed. This keeps the material generally'in a more fluid condition on the upper part of the deck and accelerates segregation of the mineral content which makes it possible to improve both the grade of the concentrates and the amount recovered. By continuing forward to the extreme concentrate end of the deck a few'of the upper rifles, the coarse particles of clean concentrates are carried forward in a bed of fine concentrates and protected by the rifles, whereas if coarse particles of concentrates are carried forward by rifles terminating as usual along a diagonal line, such as CD, the action of the flow of the wash water across the deck against the large surfaces of these larger particles washes a considerable portion of this valuable coarse concentrate into the middlings product.

With the major portion of the free concentrates removed by the upper rifles on the deck, the purpose of the remaining rifles is to effeet as perfect a separation as possible between the remaining concentrates, middlings and tailings.

It is well known that minerals and middlings will readily stratify between straight rifles on the deck of a concentrating table when the grooves or channels between the rifles'are relatively wide and deep. With such wide and deep grooves,.however, both the mineral and the middlings are retained in the groove, and a considerable quantity of the gangue is carried forward with the material carrying values.

In order to overcome the tendency to carry forward the gangue along with the valuable mineral and yet take advantage of relatively wide, deep grooves for the Stratification of particles of concentrates and middlings, a special arrangement of rifles is provided in accordance with this invention.

All of the rifles on, the table run in a general parallel direction. The surface ofthe table may be considered as divided into nearly equal zones, those zones being bounded approximately by the diagonal lines E-F, AB'and GD. In that part of the table between the'lines E-F and the tailings discharge side 7, the rifles are relatively narrow and Widely spaced and the grooves between them are straight. In that part of the table between the lines EF and A-B, the rifles increase progressively in width, so that the grooves between them are tapered, becoming gradually narrower toward the tail end of the table. In that part of the table between the lines AB and CD, the rifles are relatively wide and the grooves between them relatively narrow. Rifles and grooves are, however, straight as regards their width. The rifles are also tapered in height progressively toward the tail end of the table, growing gradually less in height as they approach that end. .The main body of rifles, otherthan the rifles 8 previously described, terminate along a diagonal line CD, and the remaining portion of the table between this line and the concentrate discharge end 5 is without rifles. Figures 2, 3 and 4 illustrate this arrangement of rifles. These figures show the relative heights and widths of the rifles on the different portions of the table indicated.

The operation of this table is as follows: As the material comes on at the feed corner 4, it begins immediately to stratify and the heavier mineral is separated out by the rifles 8 as described above. The remaining material flows downwardly across the deck and Stratification takes place in the grooves between the remaining rifles. In the zone 9 between the line E-F and side 7 of the table, the mineral and the middlings stratify within the wide, deep grooves on this part of the table, while the tailings are washed over and discharged. The'stratified material in the grooves is then moved lengthwise of the table by the action of its reciprocating movement. This material travels through the zone 10 between the line EF and the line A-B. As the material passes through this zone it encounters gradually narrowing grooves. As the material in each groove is arranged in a pile having a lower stratum of mineral and an upper stratum of gangue, this pile is narrowed or pinched as it proceeds along the groove. Consequently. a portion of the upper stratum containing the gangue is forced out of the pile. This material which is forced out is taken up by the wash water and washed over the tailings discharge edge of the table. As the movement proceeds more and more of the gangue is forced out of the pile so that when the material enters the zone 11 between the line AB and the line CD, a relatively high and narrow pile is moving in each groove. This pile is still composed of a lower stratum of mineral and an upper stratum of gangue. As the material proceeds through the zone 11, the

gradual tapering of the height of the rifles exposes more and more of the upper stratum to the action of the wash water so that more and more of the gangue is washed out as the material proceeds toward the end 5 of the emerges from the grooves at the line C-D contains a relatively large amount of mineral and comparatively little gangue. This material then travels over the unriified zone 12 where a gentle flow of water washes out most of the remaining gangue and delivers a clean concentrate which is discharged over the end 5 of the table. 7

Another consequence of the above described zoning arrangement is that the material flow ing over the middle zone 10 of the table is retarded somewhat in its travel along the table by the narrowing of the grooves. This retardation prevents too rapid crowding of the material toward the tail end of the table and consequent denudation of the upper end of the table in the zone 9. By this arrange ment of rifiies, the material. is caused to spread itself over substantially the whole table, including the greater part of the zone.

9, and, accordingly, the entire deck is active in the stratification of the material. In this way, although the material is somewhat retarded in the zone 10, the output of the entire table is increased, because the material ar-' rives at the zone 10 in a. better state of stratification and a great deal of the gangue is washed off in the Zone 9, which, in tables of previous construction, is almost wholly inactive.

It will be seen that this invention provides an improved apparatus for concentrating materials of this kind. First, the coarse concentrates and such fine mineral as may be free from gangue are separated out by the preliminary rifiies 8. The remaining material is then stratified so as to separate the concentrates from the gangue in 'a-pile of different strata. This pile is then progressively narrowed or pinched so as to force out the gangue at the top of the pile to be washed away by the water. After such pinching, the pile is further advanced and progressively reduced in height so that the wash water may have an opportunity to operate upon progressively more and more of the upper stratum. The concentrated material is then given a final washing on the unrifiied part of the table 12.

The steps of this process are carried out in accordance with the arrangement of the riiiies on the table. The wide grooves, with narrow riifies, in the zone 9 effect a stratification of the material so as to provide piles of different riffiesin the zone 11 then operate as above de scribed togradually reduce the height of the piles.

The specific arrangement as to widths and heights and degree of taper, etc., of the miles may, of course, be varied to suit the requlrements of the particular conditions of opera tion. Similarly, the relative arrangement and extent of the different zones may be altered,

as the requirements of the case demand.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of this invention; it is to be understood, therefore, that this inventionis not limited'to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described the invention, what 7 is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of the character described, comprising, a table mountedand adapted for endwise reciprocating movement, said table havinggrooves therealong arranged in zones, one of said zones having relatively wide parallel grooves, another gradually tapering grooves and occupying a substantial extent of said table, and another narrow grooves, said narrow grooves becoming progressively shallower toward the tail end of said table.

2. Anapparatus of the character described, comprising, a table mounted and adapted for endwise reciprocating movement, said table having grooves therealong arranged in Zones, one of said zones having grooves ofsubstantially uniform width extending along the feed edge of said table for a major portion. of its length, a second zone adjacent the head end of said table having grooves of uniform width covering a major portion of the width but only 'a fraction of the length of the having grooves therealong arranged in zones,

one of said zones having grooves of substantially uniform width extending along the feed edge of said table for a major portion of 7 its length, a second zone adjacent the head end of said table having wide grooves of uniform width covering a major portion of the width but only a fraction of the length of the table, another zone following said second zone along and coveringa major portion of the width of the table and having tapering grooves, and another zone having narrow grooves of uniform width.

4. -An apparatus of the character described, comprising a table mounted and adapted for endwise reciprocating movement, said table having grooves therealong arranged in zones,

one of said zones, having grooves of substantially uniform width alongthe feed side of said table, a second zone adjacent the head end of said table having wide grooves of uniform width, another zone occupying a substantial extent of said table and having tapering grooves, and another zone having narrow grooves of uniform width, said last grooves tapering in depth.

5. A concentrator table, comprising, a rifiled deck mounted for endwise reciprocating movement and having a lateral inclination, said deck having grooves arranged in zones including an initial zone having wide parallel grooves, a middle zone of substantial extent having gradually tapering grooves and an end zone having narrow parallel grooves, narrow grooves having a gradually decreasing depth.

6. A concentrator table, comprising, a riflled deck mounted for endwise reciprocating movement and having a lateral inclina' tion, said deck having grooves arranged in zones including a zone originating near the feed end of said deck and havinggradually narrowing grooves, and a succeeding zone having parallel narrow grooves of substantially uniform width decreasing gradually in depth toward the discharge end of the table.

7. A concentrator table, comprising, a rifiled deck mounted for endwise reciprocating movement and having a lateral inclination, said deck having grooves arranged in zones including an initial zone having parallel grooves of substantially uniform width extending along the upper edge of the table, a second zone originating near the feed end of said deck and having gradually narrowing grooves, and a succeeding zone having parallel narrow grooves of substantially uniform width.

In testimony whereof we affix our signa tures this 15th day of October, 1926.

LOUIS T. SICKA. VICTOR E. FLANAGAN.

W was, 

